Mark Kleiman does the thankless job of explaining to us just how monumentally clueless both Maureen Dowd and Ann Althouse are about cannabis, its legalization and non-legalization, its effects, and its risks. One thing that might not otherwise have occurred to me (because I have a kind of visceral aversion to the overuse of the word ‘privilege’) is that Dowd openly admitted to committing a federal crime in a nationally-syndicated column. Yes, buying and ingesting a cannabis candy bar remains a federal crime. It’s not a felony, as Althouse would have it, but it’s still something that no normal person would announce they had done to the entire nation.
It really does demonstrate how the law only applies to some people. But it isn’t just Dowd’s privilege that allowed her to admit her crime without worry. It’s also a result of the fact that the federal government actually doesn’t have much interest in enforcing its laws against marijuana anymore. They still go after some growers and distributors but they don’t bother with mere users, and their heart is really no longer in the fight.
What Dowd’s self-inflicted hallucinatory bad trip did demonstrate contra Althouse is the danger of having cannabis candy bars that any kid (or clueless adult) can pick up and ingest without knowing the danger. So, if we’re going to have these products, we need sensible consumer protections to go along with them.
Also contra Althouse, we do inform people of the dosage of alcohol by requiring that the volume and alcohol content is displayed on the labels of alcoholic drinks. One of the reasons heroin is dangerous is because, unlike prescription painkillers, the dosage of any given bundle of heroin is generally unknown to the user. Prescription opioids kill four times as many people as heroin, but that’s because more people use pills and opioids kill in all forms. But at least an Oxy-Contin addict knows how much of the drug they are taking. And they also know that their pill isn’t laced with unknown and potentially fatal substances.
This whole episode has just been sad.
Althouse vs. Dowd?
Go to it, ladies.
What Dowd did was the equivalent of a first-time heroin-user demanding the largest dose of the purest sh*t available.
What idiot does that?
I was a recreational pot-smoker in college in the late 70s to early 80’s – and after I graduated and moved down to NY City.
I enjoyed smoking on weekends, and listening to some music, watching movies, and/or reading newspapers and books.
I eventually stopped in the mid 80’s – largely because I was looking to switch jobs, and companies had started testing for pot.
When I moved back to Upstate NY in the early 90’s, I worked in bars, acted and directed plays, and was an Adjunct at a local college.
Well, I wanted to smoke some pot again, so I asked the cook in the pub I worked with if I could buy some off of him – he was a high-functioning pothead. I don’t think he could work if he wasn’t stoned. Great guy, though!
So, when my parents left on a vacation, he sold me a medium-sized baggie of pot.
I got some movies from Blockbuster, and had some newspapers and books lined-up to read, which I was going to enjoy while I was high.
Well – THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN!
I rolled myself a joint, and smoked about a 1/4 of it – and – I almost forgot how to breathe!
I had to remind myself that breathing is an involuntary reflex.
The stuff he sold me was probably 10-20X’s stronger than anything I had ever smoked before.
The stuff back in the 70’s and 80’s was very tame.
THIS SH*T WAS POWERFUL!!!
I didn’t enjoy my high at all – I spent my time on the couch like a paranoid human rutabaga.
NO FUN AT ALL!!!
That stuff was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too powerful for my taste!
For the cook, it was probably mild.
So, I flushed that stuff down after I got un-high, and never smoked pot again.
It was too strong, nowadays.
Now, if I want to alter my consciousness a bit, I drink some beer or wine – or have a vodka or two.
THAT, I know how to handle without turning into a paranoid couch rutabaga!
Yet more reasons why the criminalization (and enforcement) of marijuana and this piecemeal approach to legalization have been so misguided. Like substituting moonshine for low alcohol ciders with Prohibition.
Other than legalize, regulate for safety and potency, and tax, it would be nice if for once we wouldn’t allow oligarchs and monopolists to take over a consumer product. Small farms, farmers co-ops for processing, packaging, and distribution, regular stuff sold wherever alcohol is sold and specialty stuff handled like high-end alcohol and tobacco products. No adverts. Farmers and co-op branding okay.
I’m with you!
Maybe one positive aspect of states legalizing cannabis before the Federal government is that small(ish) producers and distributors can get in earlier than big companies that are unable to violate Federal law because of their nationwide/planetwide market share in other products.
You can still get mid-grade cannabis, but most likely you got high-end stuff. Not having a tolerance and immediately smoking high-end stuff is akin to never having drank alcohol and drinking a half bottle of vodka. Of course, the vodka would probably be a far worse experience, but meh.
People who are just starting with cannabis should look into vaporizing it. Not only is it pretty “clean” in regards to chemicals in your lungs/throat, but it takes longer (many hits from a vape compared to a hit or two from a pipe or joint). By letting the high settle over you, you can easily stop before it gets too intense.
At the risk of being indiscreet… I have been a smoker since high school – going on 40 years now. Mostly on an infrequent basis and when I am playing piano. About a year ago I was turned on to some jolly rancher type edibles, and now they are my number one thing. It stays with you a long time and is very pleasant. I can see how folks who need it for medicinal reasons would prefer the edibles – no smoking required. My source says edibles are two thirds of his business. So it is alarming to read these horror stories, and I fear the backlash they may provoke. Oregon regulators came very close to not allowing them. All the more reason for dispensaries to provide education and information for consumers. I have read that Washington state does not want “advice” to be offered. For those folks who are inexperienced, it is important that guidance is available.
:::Snicker::: Sadly true.
I’ve heard that Dowd is going back to boarding school after all these years. How about that, what a gal. But I’m not so sure that my source is reliable. She’s a frightening silly thing. Althouse, on the other hand, is a pretentious fool instead of a foolish jerk. This comment is inane. Boo’s writing about these other-worldly beings deserves nothing less.
Relax, people.
Maybe Ms. Dowd will wise up from all of the residual THC coursing through her veins.
Or not.
We’ll know when she writes a column about how she suddenly can’t get enough of listening to the later work of John Coltrane.
Any day now.
Aaaaany day now…
AG